Well, it's June, and that means another "Week of..." series. This month, I chose to start a franchise near and dear to my heart, that I actually planned on writing about later in the year, but figured, hey, why not do it this month? It's not like there is a new game coming out that I'm trying to coordinate with like other months. Yes, I am talking about Resident Evil.

I'm starting with Resident Evil 0, which I realize was not the first game in the series as far as release dates go, but is technically the prequel to the original Resident Evil game. Zero came out for the GameCube, which at the time was an amazing feat because the general public was still under the presumption that Nintendo consoles only featured kid-focused games. For a game coming from a mature franchise such as Resident Evil, it was definitely a rude awakening for innocent Nintendo fans.

I loved it though.

I had been craving something, anything, somewhat mature for the GameCube. Also, I had been craving a new Resident Evil game, and since all previous Resident Evil games had come out exclusively on the PlayStation, I was worried I would miss out since I didn't have a PlayStation (1 or 2) at the time. Imagine my surprise when I found out that this was coming to the little ole GameCube!

This game is a fun entry into the series. I understand a lot of people don't like it, but I think that had more to do with it being on the GameCube than anything. Zero was the first time the franchise seemed to take a turn towards the inevitable action-oriented game play that the die-hard series fans would grow to despise. Sure, it still has the puzzle aspects of the original Resident Evil games, but the pace of the game is definitely kicked up a notch from the slow, methodical yet always tense and terrifying pacing of the games before it.

It's not my favorite game of the bunch, let's be clear. It's easily one that's easy to miss or forget about, and one could argue that Code Veronica is more crucial to the franchise than this game. But it was a giant leap for Nintendo to take, and for the sake of continuity of this week, I had to start with zero - since I am working my way up to 6.

Also, it was a great way to showcase a Resident Evil game in an environment other than a mansion or a city, and the local of being on a train would eventually inspire (I assume) Resident Evil Revelations, which takes place on a cruise ship.